A Shot For Me
by Moving Mountains
Summary: Being in a team means having each other's backs, no matter how perilous the situation may be. When one Titans risks their life to save another, the team experiences a wide range of emotions - some more strongly than others. [One-shot]


Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or anything affiliated with it.

* * *

Wincing as he sat on the semi-circular sofa, Beast Boy clenched his fist and cursed before holding his aching torso and being met with the uncomfortable texture of bandages. It had been two weeks since he'd woken up in the Titans' infirmary surrounded by three anxious faces and the sound of his steady heartbeat rhythmically pumping blood around his injured body. Unfortunately, the one face he needed to see was the absent one. After fourteen grueling days, Cyborg had only just cleared him to leave his bed so he'd decided to venture to the living area; how he'd missed the titanic television screen and Gamestation!

He was shaken from his thoughts by a hand resting on his left shoulder. Turning around, he saw his leader looking down at him. Even with the mask hiding his eyes, Beast Boy could feel Robin's concern radiating from them.

"Glad to see you up again, Beast Boy."

"Glad to be up."

The heroes shared a smile. Out of all the Titans relationships, Beast Boy and Robin had a more distant one. They highly respected each other's skills but they wouldn't go to each other for advice and both were comfortable with that.

Robin walked towards the kitchen area and pulled two mugs out of one of the cupboards; he then commenced heating up the kettle to make them both coffee. Looking over at his green companion, he released a deep sigh. He was okay. The last two and a half weeks had been hell for everyone in the Tower but as leader, Beast Boy's incident had hit him hard. He was expected to have all the answers. He was expected to emotionally support his friends. He was expected to still be able to keep a level head during the seven battles they faced while one of their own was in a hospital bed attached to an intravenous drip filled with his blood.

Hearing the kettle bubble and boil, he made the hot drinks and went back to the sofa, offering his younger friend a mug which he took with thanks.

"It feels so good to be out of that bed, dude. You have no idea how sick I was of that place," Beast Boy started, blowing his drink.

Robin smirked, "If you hadn't been so stupid then you wouldn't have needed to be in there."

Beast Boy's ears dropped as his eyes averted from Robin's to the steaming brown liquid in his hands.

"How is she?"

There was no question of which female member of the team they were talking about. Starfire, while overly emotional, had remained highly optimistic after the accident. Her positive nature had helped all the team try to overcome their fears and she'd visited Beast Boy regularly while he was a 'prisoner' in the infirmary. Raven however…

"Dude, I know she hates me. She wasn't there when I woke up. She didn't come and see me. It doesn't take a genius-"

"You saved her life, Beast Boy. She just hates that you nearly died because of her."

"I wasn't going to let Raven get shot!"

"And you getting shot is better?" Robin asked exasperatedly, the corners of his mask turning down as the memory of the trigger being pulled ran through his mind.

"Yes! Man, this team would fall apart without Rae. She's the most powerful of us and the most mature, she's a strategist and she keeps us all level-headed. We'd be lost without her and you know it."

Beast Boy was breathing deeply, seeing that fateful day replaying in his mind. Raven was down on the pavement after being winded by a fly kick from one of the three robbers. Beast Boy was running over to help her up when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another robber cowardly hiding in a nearby alleyway, clicking the safety off of his gun. Beast Boy's overly sensitive hearing caught the sound that no one else had noticed and turned to see the weapon facing in Raven's direction. He shouted her name then transformed into a cheetah, racing towards her as the bullet was fired. Gaining power from his back legs, he leaped in front of her. The next thing he felt was pain - burning pain in his stomach. Purple eyes were the last thing he saw before his world went white.

Thinking about how much he'd missed those eyes over the past few days, the changeling sighed at the thought of the demoness being angry and him. "I couldn't let her get hurt," he whispered adamantly, determined to make Robin understand the reason behind his recklessness.

"Beast Boy, you are no less important to us than Raven and if you had died that night then I would have found a way to resurrect you then kill you myself," he said to his teammate, clapping the young man on the shoulder. "I'm glad you were there and what you did was admirable but believe me when I say that it was the most stupid thing you've ever done!" He gave him a light shove as he removed his hand, enough to show he was unhappy with his actions but not enough to hurt him more. "We nearly lost you."

"Oh please, I've handled worse than this," Beast Boy laughed, the motion causing pain to flare up his ribs. He tried to mask his pain from his leader, afraid to be sent back to the infirmary. Unfortunately, Robin was trained by Batman and nothing could surpass his vigilance.

"You're lucky Raven healed you as much as she did or you'd still be in bed," Robin commented. In his mind, the image of Raven's hands engulfed in glowing blue light hovered on Beast Boy's wound. He watched as the blood slowed, as his green skin turned a shade less pale while hers got clammier. He dashed forward to grab her upper arms when she swayed and eventually collapsed forward, unconscious, her power spent.

"Cyborg told me that Raven was in the infirmary for two days."

"Yeah, she used up all her power reserves to slow your bleeding." Robin hoped to never again feel the way he felt that night: two Titans down, one in a serious condition, with no idea of when they'd wake up – or if they both would.

"Is she okay now?"

"Last time I checked, " he started, hesitating at the sadness swimming behind the changeling's eyes, "But you know what she's like - she has shut herself out. I was actually on my way to talk to her but then I saw you down here."

"Please tell her I'm sorry for upsetting her… or making her mad," he added, not sure which emotion Raven would be experiencing right now. Either way, he knew it wouldn't be good.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Beast Boy. I'm actually annoyed that she didn't go to see you."

Beast Boy was secretly annoyed too. He didn't know why she'd purposefully ignore him, especially after taking a damn bullet for her! But if there was one thing he'd learned about Raven during their five years of crime-fighting, it was that she was not as strong as she made out to be. He knew her mind was probably a nightmare right now but he knew better than to make the first move. Raven would come to him when she was ready and he had to respect that, even though it broke his heart and did little to ease his worrying.

Robin took the now cold mug from his hands, ready to return it to the kitchen. Getting up, he went three steps before a gloved hand grabbed his arm.

"Robin, you know Raven better than I do. She may act okay, but we all know she isn't."

Robin nodded, turning towards the door leading to the bedrooms. "Get some rest."

* * *

Outside her door lay a full plate of untouched food. Starfire had been kindly bringing her meals but Raven never accepted them. Robin rubbed his temples, sick of all the lying. He didn't want to tell Beast Boy the truth, and so far all the Titans had told Beast Boy during their visits that Raven was fine but still recovering from overusing her powers. The truth was that Raven hadn't come out of her room since the day she'd woken up in the infirmary and seen Beast Boy unconscious. Cyborg had been in the room at the time monitoring them both and he'd seen Raven wake up and turn her head towards the other bed. Before he could get up and over to her side, she'd teleported away, a few teardrops on the pillowcase the only evidence she'd ever been there.

They knew she was in her room but she'd overridden the Titans access code, so the only one who could get inside was her. Both boys had tried breaking down the door but she must have strengthened it with a spell because they'd failed. She'd closed the curtains of her room so the drones that Cyborg deployed to check on her were met with darkness when they got to her window. To Robin's surprise, she'd even destroyed the camera that was in every Titan's room in case of emergencies.

Every day, Starfire left the food and spoke about Beast Boy's recovering condition; Cyborg tried to get her to open the door and visit Beast Boy, hoping that seeing his slow improvement would stop her falling deeper into her spiral of despair; Robin just asked her how she was but he received the same whispered answer every time he did, a whisper so soft that he could barely hear it: leave me alone.

Sighing, hoping that today would be the day that was different, Robin raised his hand and knocked on the door. "Raven?"

Silence.

"Raven? It's Robin. Beast Boy is now up and about the Tower; Cyborg's given him a clean bill of health although he's still a bit sore."

Silence.

"Come on Raven! It's been two weeks. Now open the damn door!"

At the unwelcome sound of silence, Robin smashed his fist against the door in anger. He was sick of this - just as one of his team was getting better, another was getting worse. He grabbed his communicator and scanned the door, seeing an orange image of what lay behind it: Raven was lying in her bed. This did little to ease his concerns. He kept knocking, looking at the small screen in his hands for some source of movement. There was none. He gave up persistently banging on the metal, ignoring the prickling feeling in his hand. Turning his back to the fortified entrance, Robin slid to the floor outside the door. Anger overwhelmed him.

"Beast Boy saved your life, and this is how you repay him – by sulking and locking yourself away? Do you know how pissed he'll be when he finds out! One of the first things he's asked about is you, Raven, you! He was shot but he's more worried about you than himself!" His chest rose and fell rapidly as the adrenaline rush ebbed away. His throat felt raw from raising his voice. His hands shook as he unclenched his fists. "As am I – and Starfire and Cyborg."

The tension left his body. His head lolled back, lightly hitting the door behind him.

"Raven – you need to come out. Please."

* * *

Beast Boy couldn't ignore Robin's shouts, no matter how hard he tried to drown them out by turning the volume up. He knew they were lying to him. His animal instincts were stronger than they gave him credit for sometimes: the tension in the tower made the fine hairs on his body stand on end.

He wished he was well enough to morph but the mere thought of it made his body ache more. He would transform into an insect, creep under her door and see the damage he had caused for himself, see if he could help her, but he could barely move as it was.

"You're okay."

Screaming and falling back off the sofa, Beast Boy looked up, the sight of a blue cloak hiding a pale face staring down at him in concern. His body tensed as pain shot through it at the sudden movement; he grabbed his side and rolled over as darkness began to swallow him. Raven quickly moved forward to help when her head began to spin and dark spots clouded her vision. Going limp, she collapsed next to Beast Boy.

* * *

When he woke up, Beast Boy growled, frustrated to be back in the infirmary. The beeps of the machines grated his nerves. Scanning the room for one of the others, his eyes focused on the figure on the bed next to him – the figure that was attached to a drip, the figure whose glare could have turned him to stone.

"You're okay," he smirked weakly, mocking the demoness. He gulped as she silently glared at him, her eyes narrowing the longer she held his gaze.

"I've always called you an idiot, but I didn't really think you were one," she started as Beast Boy looked at her with a frown on his face. This wasn't the Raven he knew, the girl whose tongue was as sharp as her mind. "Until you took that bullet," she chastised, choking on the last word. He knew it was too good to be true – Raven didn't do compliments. As her voice got louder, his resolve got stronger. "Why did you do that? Did you even think about the consequences? Do you realise how close you were to dying!"

"You're my friend, Rae."

"That's not an excuse! A friend wouldn't have done something so stupid!"

"Says the girl who almost starved herself to death," Cyborg frowned, entering the infirmary and raising an eyebrow at Raven.

"What?" Beast Boy analysed her appearance: her slimmer-than-normal frame, the dark circles surrounding her violet eyes, the unnatural shade of pale that adorned her skin. She looked awful.

"Oh, I guess the little lady here was too busy callin' you out to tell you that she decided to stay holed up in her room for damn near ten days."

"Stop being so dramatic, Cyborg. You know that I don't need to eat as much as humans."

"Yet I found your ass passed out on the floor."

Raven sighed, realising that she was never going to out-argue the two men - especially Cyborg. She leaned back deeper into the pillow, scowling as she felt the IV-line needle pull against her arm. "How long am I in here for?" The look on his face – a mixture of confliction, anger, disappointment and concern – told her all she needed to know.

"Until Robin forgives you for scaring us all so bad – so a _long_ time. Get comfy."

The three Titans fell into awkward silence as Cyborg checked their medical readings. Saying he'd be back in a couple of hours to check on them, the half-robot left Raven and Beast Boy alone. Each of them had a lot to say, but neither one of them wanted to speak first. Never a fan of uncomfortable silences, Beast Boy caved first.

"Look, Rae. I really am sorry that you're mad at me and I'm sorry that you locked yourself away, but I won't apologise for what I did. I wasn't about to watch you get shot."

He looked at her longingly, willing her to look up from her lap and see how sincere he was; how much he needed her to know she was always worth saving; how he'd do it all again in a heartbeat. The changeling was relieved when her eyes finally locked with his. He gave her a lop-sided smile, his fang sticking out between his lips.

"Promise me you'll never risk your life for mine again."

"How do you expect me to promise that when we do what we do?" he asked exasperatedly. "That's what being a team is about! Do you really think you're not worth saving?" Beast Boy hated seeing her hesitate. "For someone who reads as much as you do, you can be really dumb sometimes!" He reached out his arm as far as it would go without hurting. "I'll always be there to save you, Raven."

She treated him to a rare smile, albeit a small one, but it was a smile nonetheless and the sight of it warmed his heart. The demoness stretched out her arm and entwined her hand with his.

"Thank you."


End file.
